New Oxford band show will remove hammers and sickles

High school's field show was criticized by some as celebrating the Russian revolution that ushered in communist leadership.

The New Oxford High School Marching Band's field show, "St. Petersburg: 1917," will change its name and remove hammers and sickles after it made national news when one parent was offended by the performance he said commemorates the Russian revolution.

Rebecca Harbaugh, superintendent for the Conewago Valley School District, said this morning the district would continue to evaluate the show to see if anything else should be removed. She said the introduction, referring to the Russian revolution of 1917 would be changed, but that the show would continued to feature the music of Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich.

Fox News Radio reported Monday that a parent who attended a Sept. 14 Friday night football game called the station, voicing his opinions on the band's show, involved olive military-style uniforms, red flags and other communist symbols.

However, the show didn't seem to offend the judges of the Cavalcade of Bands Association Inc. show at Manheim Township High School on Saturday, where the band won first place, according to the band's website.

"There is no reason for Americans to celebrate the Russian revolution," he added. "I am sure the millions who died under communism would not see the joy of celebrating the Russian revolution by a school 10 miles from Gettysburg.

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Harbaugh told Fox that the band's performance was "not an endorsement of communism at all," rather "it's a representation of the time period in history called St. Petersburg 1917."

"I am truly sorry that somebody took the performance in that manner. I am," she told Fox. "If anything is being celebrated, it's the music. It is what it is. I understand people look at something and choose how to interpret that, and I'm just very sorry that it wasn't looked at as just a history lesson."

Harbaugh said this morning the intent was to show the struggle of the time period.

"It's not an uplifting performance," she said. "It's about a dark time in our world's history and that's the way it was portrayed on the field."

Some expressed their opinions on Facebook Monday night as the story unfolded.

Others felt the theme was too harsh for a high school band to portray.

"I think the question is whether it is appropriate for a high school band to commemorate an event that led to unimaginable brutality of millions of Russian citizens. Stalin was just not a very nice guy. The tie to socialism is also a sore subject in this day and age," Brian Albin wrote.